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Canada Lands Company
Canada Lands Company Limited (French: Société immobilière du Canada) is a self-financing federal Crown corporation reporting to the Parliament of Canada through Public Services and Procurement Canada. The company is responsible for managing property on behalf of the federal government, conducting public consultation and integrating properties back into their surrounding communities for development. Most of its assets are located in Canadian urban centres, and are sold after the CLC revalued the property by providing managerial support and subsidizing immediate costs such as decontamination. However, the company retains ownership of some of Canada's most valued properties, such as Downsview Park, the CN Tower, the Old Port of Montreal and the Montreal Science Centre, from which it draws rental and hospitality revenues.
The CLC was founded in 1956 as the Public Works Lands Company Limited (PWLCL). Its original function was to act as "an intermediary handling public land development, leases, permits, title transfers, etc. for other government departments". The PWLCL had little activity in the first few decades of its existence, and went dormant in the 1980s when the government's neoliberal program focused on privatization. It was renamed the Canada Lands Company Limited in 1981.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the government of Canada adopted legislation and policies that encouraged the sale of public lands and assets. Prior to this period, state ownership of land and corporations was supported by all political parties and was seen as necessary to bind colonial economies together and to assist the private sector through government intervention in the economy. Following the adoption of the Federal Real Property and Federal Immovables Act in 1991, government departments were incentivized to dispose of their holdings with no immediate benefits, with the idea that the private sector could make better use of it. The function of today's CLC originates in these policy changes.
Canada Lands was reactivated in August 1995 by the Government of Canada as a "federal nonagent commercial Crown corporation" for the disposition of physical government properties deemed superfluous. It is mandated by the government to act as its agent for the disposal of such assets, and the government is the company's only shareholder. The necessity of the disposition of land and other physical assets was the result of the privatization of Canadian National Railway in 1995, as the government had excluded non-rail real estate assets from the privatization and re-activated Canada Lands as a holding company for these assets, and to dispose of high-value assets in urban areas. Any property deemed surplus by the government must be sold to the Canada Lands Company at fair market value, which must then develop, manage, or sell the property.
In the 2010s, CLC's major projects were the operation and development of the CN Tower and surrounding areas, and the redevelopment of decommissioned Canadian Forces bases across Canada into pricey residential units.
The goal of the corporation as determined by Cabinet since 1995 has been to ensure "the commercially oriented, orderly disposition of surplus properties with optimal value to the Canadian taxpayer".
The CLC treats their holdings as financial assets. They appraise the value of their holdings exclusively from an exchange-value point of view, and recommends property management and redevelopment schemes directly aimed at increasing the land exchange value. In contrast, in UK land disposals, surplus designation is based on the land’s operational value, and exchange value is only considered once it is determined that the land has no value for the government.
The CLC also subsidizes the initial costs of developing the property, such as "the removal of debris and contaminated soil or other environmental hazards. Other preparation work may include the renovation of existing roads, the demolition of unsafe structures and the installation of new roads and other municipal services (for example: sewers, streetlights, etc.)."
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Canada Lands Company
Canada Lands Company Limited (French: Société immobilière du Canada) is a self-financing federal Crown corporation reporting to the Parliament of Canada through Public Services and Procurement Canada. The company is responsible for managing property on behalf of the federal government, conducting public consultation and integrating properties back into their surrounding communities for development. Most of its assets are located in Canadian urban centres, and are sold after the CLC revalued the property by providing managerial support and subsidizing immediate costs such as decontamination. However, the company retains ownership of some of Canada's most valued properties, such as Downsview Park, the CN Tower, the Old Port of Montreal and the Montreal Science Centre, from which it draws rental and hospitality revenues.
The CLC was founded in 1956 as the Public Works Lands Company Limited (PWLCL). Its original function was to act as "an intermediary handling public land development, leases, permits, title transfers, etc. for other government departments". The PWLCL had little activity in the first few decades of its existence, and went dormant in the 1980s when the government's neoliberal program focused on privatization. It was renamed the Canada Lands Company Limited in 1981.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the government of Canada adopted legislation and policies that encouraged the sale of public lands and assets. Prior to this period, state ownership of land and corporations was supported by all political parties and was seen as necessary to bind colonial economies together and to assist the private sector through government intervention in the economy. Following the adoption of the Federal Real Property and Federal Immovables Act in 1991, government departments were incentivized to dispose of their holdings with no immediate benefits, with the idea that the private sector could make better use of it. The function of today's CLC originates in these policy changes.
Canada Lands was reactivated in August 1995 by the Government of Canada as a "federal nonagent commercial Crown corporation" for the disposition of physical government properties deemed superfluous. It is mandated by the government to act as its agent for the disposal of such assets, and the government is the company's only shareholder. The necessity of the disposition of land and other physical assets was the result of the privatization of Canadian National Railway in 1995, as the government had excluded non-rail real estate assets from the privatization and re-activated Canada Lands as a holding company for these assets, and to dispose of high-value assets in urban areas. Any property deemed surplus by the government must be sold to the Canada Lands Company at fair market value, which must then develop, manage, or sell the property.
In the 2010s, CLC's major projects were the operation and development of the CN Tower and surrounding areas, and the redevelopment of decommissioned Canadian Forces bases across Canada into pricey residential units.
The goal of the corporation as determined by Cabinet since 1995 has been to ensure "the commercially oriented, orderly disposition of surplus properties with optimal value to the Canadian taxpayer".
The CLC treats their holdings as financial assets. They appraise the value of their holdings exclusively from an exchange-value point of view, and recommends property management and redevelopment schemes directly aimed at increasing the land exchange value. In contrast, in UK land disposals, surplus designation is based on the land’s operational value, and exchange value is only considered once it is determined that the land has no value for the government.
The CLC also subsidizes the initial costs of developing the property, such as "the removal of debris and contaminated soil or other environmental hazards. Other preparation work may include the renovation of existing roads, the demolition of unsafe structures and the installation of new roads and other municipal services (for example: sewers, streetlights, etc.)."